President Barack Obama's sit-down over beer to deal with a prominent racial tension story could serve as inspiration for future methods of conflict resolution.
The meeting between President Obama, Henry Louis Gates, and James Crowley could be the beginning of using presidential power as a method to bring sides together.
In terms of the balance of food, President Obama could incorporate the harvest from the organic food garden on the White House grounds as a bounty to sway those who think our food supply is doing rather well.
In a perfect world, those who clashed with the First Lady over not using pesticides on the White House organic garden would be invitees at a long dinner table, preferably overlooking the garden itself.
Those who run Archers Daniels Midland and Cargill — pushers of high-fructose corn syrup — should sit down eating foods made with sugar side-by-side with those filled with HFCS, and then tell us how wonderful HFCS really is.
The people who don't seem to mind that our beef is filled with antibiotics and hormones should be given a plate full of grass-fed beef to see how wonderful that option is for the dinner table.
The temptation would be to invite ADM and Cargill execs to drink pure high-fructose corn syrup and tell us why it's so necessary, and the beef people to be given a plate full of antibiotics and hormones to see whether they can literally swallow them. But that would be considered mean.
Whether it's good or bad, photo ops can crash through the intense 24-hour news cycle. Regardless of party, there is something about the unofficial presidential seal of approval to an otherwise ignored problem that affects millions of people every day.
And the quality of our food supply does affect millions each day. So much of the struggle in obesity is painted as whether someone grabs for the bag of Cheetos in the store or grabs a stalk of broccoli. But the hidden costs of our food supply need to be exposed.
Since this president and the First Lady do feel like they have a stake in people eating better, what better way than to use the bully pulpit of the White House?
The cost of health care — and more specifically health care reform — is tied into improving the food supply. President Obama has spoken on several occasions to personal responsibility, and improving individual behavior.
But that improvement amongst ourselves is a much easier task if our food supply is more honest.
One reason why the White House "beer summit" had merit is that people were talking past each other on a major issue. They were talking but no one was really hearing the other side of the equation. Having those who want a healthier food supply should have a mediator with those who want the status quo. They wouldn't agree to everything from the other side, but it would be better if the discussion over improving the food supply was more knowledgeable on both sides.
Again, regardless of party, President Obama is seen as someone who brings people together who aren't on the same side. His role as a community organizer, his actions in the Illinois Senate, and in the 'beer summit' are all indicative of someone who likes to see people understand each other better.
Eating healthy should be easy for people to do, something that requires very little thought. We are a country constantly in a rush, often working more than one job or driving family members to the next event. The better our food supply is, the easier it will be for people to make true decisions over what to eat and how much to consume.
A little dialogue would be a wonderful place to start, preferably over good food.
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